Crowdfunding DeepSpeed

More than 400 thousand euros raised in 24 hours

Sealence, the Italian startup that developed the DeepSpeed ​​electric jet for naval use, launched a share crowdfunding campaign yesterday, with a minimum target of € 300,000 (equivalent to a 0.9% stake in the capital). The campaign, active on the Italian crowdfunding portal listed on the Italian stock exchange CrowdFundMe, has already raised more than 400,000 euros from 145 investors on the first day of the campaign, as well as more than one million bookings, exceeding the target of minimum collection and thus going in excess of financing.

Through the crowdfunding subscription, shares will be bought, with a minimum investment fee of € 2,820, which corresponds to a lot of 1,000 shares. You can invest, upward, with multiples of 100 shares at a time (eg, 2820-1000 shares, 3102-1100 shares, etc.). The crowdfunding campaign of shares in CrowdFundMe will have the traditional duration of 2 months, with a first window of 20 days to allow the entry of investments and the presentation of the list of shareholders in the Chamber of Commerce before the end of the year and search with they. timely, to encourage investors to access tax deductions for 2020. In addition, those who have signed the first 300 thousand euros of online deposits will be entitled to receive warrants, thanks to which they can buy shares at a discount in subsequent rounds.

The funds raised will be used by Sealence to:

1. Accelerate and finalize the development and testing of jets;

2. start the certification process preparatory for its commercialization;

3. extend patent protection of the technology internationally;

4. invest in marketing and communication strategies;

5. build a first commercial network structure, both direct and indirect;

6. create and train a wide support network;

7. Take advantage of growth opportunities through external lines, through the acquisition of companies with high specialization or technological skills.

The crowdfunding campaign is part of a capital increase of 7 million euros by Sealence, with which some Italian and international funds are in negotiations to enter the company. Both the new round of Series A and the crowdfunding campaign had been announced by the startup last November.

Sealance, which has a current pre-money valuation of € 33.5 million, has also been transformed into a spa (Sealence spa) on the occasion of the ongoing CrowdFundMe campaign. In addition, the startup is studying going public in 3 years.

Recall that in October 2019 Sealence had launched another equity crowdfunding campaign on CrowdFundMe, thanks to which it had raised 450 thousand euros. In addition, the startup during the first confinement managed to place a minibond by converting 500 thousand euros, offered to the 126 partners who had joined the first crowdfunding campaign.

After the first campaign, Sealence accelerated the engineering phase, started a PhD at the University of Padua (one of the three partner universities for jets) and hired 10 people, mainly designers and engineers, including the CTO. Marco Cassinelli (former technical director of MV Agusta, with a background as a designer at the highest level in Alfa Romeo, Lamborghini, Audi, Maserati,) who supports the scientific director of the DeepSpeed ​​project, Prof. Ernesto Benini.

The path that has brought the DeepSpeed ​​engine to the fore today begins in 2007, when William Gobbo took shape on the first concept – today founder and manager of the startup – with the idea of ​​developing a propulsion system that is more respectful of our seas and at the same time more efficient than propeller systems. In fact, the propeller is known to be an extended but at the same time ineffective means of pushing a ship and this inefficiency increases with increasing speed. That is why in more advanced sectors such as aeronautics, jets have replaced propellers in all those applications where efficiency and performance are important evaluation elements. Over time, reactor systems have also appeared in the naval sector, more correctly hydrojets, but these have always suffered from being placed inside hulls, which leads to unavoidable complications and significant inefficiencies.